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Facebook moratorium

I posted this on facebook today: I’m going to add some more of my own thoughts, for my blog readers.

I’ve decided to take a one month break from Facebook, and see how I feel.

I know I am very active on Facebook, so people assume I love Facebook. The truth is, I don’t like Facebook very much. I am very active on Facebook because I am very talkative…so anywhere that I have to talk…I do!One of the things I hate on Facebook is how much I post. I feel like a loser for posting so much…but I am incapable of shutting up.

There are several reasons I do not like Facebook. Firstly, I find that Facebook shows me sides of people I would rather not see. There are many people who I like very much in my personal interactions with them, but seeing the articles they post or the things they post or the way they post makes me feel differently about them. I don’t like that. I want to base my opinion of people on how I get along with them in person, not online!|For example, I have seen friends I really like post things that are anti-Semitic, or homophobic, or overly religious, or support/oppose things I am on the other side of. I don’t care of people feel these ways if they don’t affect me…we all have our inner feelings..but once they are out there, it is hard for me to feel the same way about somebody. I also find a lot of people have a lack of insight on Facebook, that I rarely see from the same people in person, and I would rather not know about it. I am sure I am guilty of this too.

I also find the Facebook makes me feel bad about myself, my home, my family. So many people always seem to be going on fabulous trips, doing amazing renovations (or moving to bigger better homes), having amazing times with their super happy blissful families. Obviously, I know that it’s only what people choose to post. But it still bugs me, it makes me feel bad about myself, about the fact that we have not really traveled in years, have not done any renovations in years, and still live on our “starter home”, and certainly have as many tough times as good ones in my family. That’s not to say my family is unhappy (we aren’t!), but there is a lot of bickering around here! There are some Facebook friends who are constantly posting about trips, or loving moment with their partners, or their wonderful perfect homes. I know we all make our choices, and I know it is nobodies fault but my own if we do not travel much, and we do not take good care of our home, and my marriage is not all that I want it to be. But still, I don’t need to see how much better other people’s lives look than mine on a daily basis. On the same note, there are some people on FB that seem to always be complaining about something, and often these are people who really have nothing to complain about, whining about first world problems.

I am also aware that probably the things that I choose to post on Facebook make people feel bad. Over the last few years I have gotten very into fitness, for example. I talk about it here because it’s a lot of what I do…but then I see people sharing articles saying how much they hate people who talk about fitness on Facebook. What’s a girl to do? I don’t know. I don’t want to make people feel bad, but other people tell me I inspire them. I don’t want to not do that either. Everytime I post about fitness or, yoga or weight loss on FB, I feel guilty. There are a lot of people that are not there, that wont be there, that want to be there. Does seeing pics of my yoga poses and re-posting of race times make them feel the way I feel when I read the posts I refer to in the above paragraph? I don’t want people to feel that way..but just like some people’s lives are about travel, and renovations, and good times…a lot of my life is about fitness. If I don’t post that, what do I post?

Anyway, in case anybody is reading this, and thinking “what did I do”? It’s nothing anybody posted today, except for one friend who said she is going to take a month off of Facebook. That inspired me to do the same, because often reading Facebook makes me unhappy and grumpy…I’m wondering if being off Facebook will make me happier. At the least, it will force me to spend a little bit more time engaging with the people around me, instead of the computer. I often find myself feeling irrationally angry at people based on their Facebook posts, and sometimes post passive aggressive things on their facebook….which is childish and wrong, and doesn’t make me feel better, it just makes me feel stupid. What is better, is to not be somewhere that breeds such negativity in me. Also…I do spend a lot of time online. I’d rather focus on my fmaikly…maybe that would bring some of the bliss I crave into my home and marriage. So, I shall try!